Author's Notes: Thank you all for the lovely reviews from the last chapter of this collection. Writing for a new fandom is always nerve-wracking but gives me such a thrill and a new amount of life! Please keep the suggestions for other 'What ifs' coming! They're all ending up on a spreadsheet and I'm working my way through each one! Today's 'What If' comes from fandomqueen86!

'What if both Alex and Molly were shot and ended up in Gene's world.'

I was very nervous about writing this but then I leaned into the fear and found it quite a wild and wonderful adventure! I really hope you all enjoy! Unlike our last chapter, this is far away from the smutty feeling of before but still worth a read! This collection will defo be a combo of all ratings and themes!

Alex was just about beginning to start the puzzle of confusion in her head, as she stared down the barrel of Layton's gun. His manic eyes darting harshly at hers as he whispered out the lyrics of a song Alex had always liked but had chosen to skip ever since that day in October. Wracking her memories for anything resembling this manic man in front of her.

"Mum!" Molly's small worried voice cracked through her thoughts and her panic shot up in the air. Molly ran towards her, desperate to wrap her arms around her mother and protect her.

"There's a child! Hold your fire!" Alex screamed in horror as she watched Molly's footsteps becoming drag marks. Layton reached out for Molly's collar and pulled her out of Alex's reach. "There's a child! Hold your fire! Hold your fire!" Her frantic high-pitched screams pierced through cold London air as Alex spread her arms wide, begging for any bullets to be ceased.

"Mum!" Molly cried again as Layton's grip held on her as he dragged her away.

"You follow me, and I'll blow her head off! You hear me?" Leighton threatened as he and Alex's little girl neared the steps that took them below the bridge. Alex found her feet blued to the ground painfully still, as she battled with her motherly instincts and the instincts of her training. "Down those steps! Get down those steps! You stupid little girl!" Layton barked at Molly as she tripped and ran down the steps onto the sand beneath the bridge. When Alex heard the last whimper of her daughter she gave in to the maternal need to be close to her daughter and ran down the steps after her child. Her shoes had only just touched the sand when she felt the hard knock to the back of her head, that sent her vision into black and her ears into a loud ring.

.

.

The dripping of water and the smell of sewers were the first elements of her senses to return to Alex. Faint sound and pungent smell. The sense of feeling began to return as the heavy ache arrived on the back of her head, along with the trickling of blood down her neck. Alex groaned as she reached behind her head, eyes still shut, and felt the open-cut against her scalp.

"Mum?" Molly's whisper tore through Alex and alerted all her senses awake within seconds. The smell of the sewers increased, the pain and taste of metallic blood flooded her and the quiet whisper of her daughter's worry felt like an injection. Alex's eyes darted open after she had already begun moving. She saw her worried little girl with her knees pulled up close to her chest.

"Molls?" Alex reached out and wrapped her daughter into her arms and squeezed her tightly, relieved to have her with her again.

"Mum, I'm scared." Alex finally looked around her and saw the surroundings her and her daughter found themselves in. Alex didn't know exactly where they were, but they seemed to be in an underground tunnel, only small streams of natural light seeping through. The two were huddled on an old mattress with discarded damp blankets.

"It's going to be alright," Alex said, forcing her voice not the waver. "It's all going to be alright."

"Well, that's your choice." The sound of Layton's voice and the beeping of a phone made both Alex and Molly's bodies tighten suddenly, as they watched the ban balance himself over uneven ground and appear in their sight.

"What can my parents possibly have to do with this? They've been dead a long time." Alex asked, clutching her daughter closer to her chest.

"I had an empire, yeah? Back in the day." Layton panted. "I had connections, I had dealers on every street corner."

"And things went wrong? Do you want to talk about that?" Alex's training was slowly seeping back into her mind. Keep them talking. Find some sort of connection with them. Maybe then you can reach their reasonable side. Or keep yourselves alive long enough to be found. "You… you… you feel trapped." Alex stuttered. Molly turned her head gently in her mother's embrace and watched as Layton reached for his sunglasses and placed them over his eyes. "I mean, I can understand that."

"mum." Molly's whispers went ignored.

"Those officers were itching for a fatality outcome."

"Mum," Molly repeated louder this time. The last thing Alex Drake was going to hear in the world of 2008. The last human voice before Layton raised his hand, gripped tight onto a gun, and sent a bullet towards her and into the skull of her head.

The techno-colored blur that followed Alex when her eyes sprung open and were assaulted with shades of red and Vienna flooding her ears. Within the hour she had been briefly taken hostage and rescued by the impossible Manc Trio. DCI Gene Hunt. DC Chris Skelton and DS Ray Carling. The figments of Sam Tyler's imagination had wormed their way into hers. Her attempts to focus when she arrived at the police station was an attempt hardly worth making. Carried in the arms of Gene Hunt, Alex was carried into C.I.D to realize she had taken on a full sensory hallucination and was in fact trapped in her own mind. She was in the world of 1981 but still held onto her title. D.I. Drake of Fenchurch East. Under the watchful eye and demand of the all-mighty Gene Hunt.

"Welcome on board, inspector." Gene declared to the room as if sealing her fate for good.

She stood by and watched as her new team ran around her, attempting to find the source of the latest drug wave in the city. As they did Alex desperately tried to find connections back to her world, only to get distracted with a face-to-face bullfight with Gene Hunt. When Arthur Layton's name appeared in front of her I written black and white form, it was like a shock to the heart, relighting her fire and refocussing her mind. Yes, it was odd that she was surrounded by Gene Hunt and his team. Yes it was odd she'd ended up in the year her parents had died. But that all meant nothing. There was a trigger, a release from this world and back to her daughter and she would find her way. And so she began to work through things the best way she knew how. She began with brainstorming.

"I was shot. The result of that act was my arrival in this… Dystopia. My brain created a dark twisted place to go to. My brain is in severe trauma, and so will not expend energy creating people that I don't need. Therefore, everything here is significant. Now, I am an empirical person. I break everything down and I study it. That's how I solve problems. I must constantly analyze. The moment it happened, I saw the bullet and I thought. This is it, Alex. This is how it all ends."

"Like this was your destiny?" Shaz had helpfully concluded for her.

"So where does that leave me?"

Dystopia.

Everything is significant.

Analyze

Destiny.

D.E.A.D.

And just like the blow to the head that had pulled her from London, and landed her in a dark place that was to be her grave, darkness took over Alex as she fell into exhaustion. Waking up in another mysterious and multi-colored world that lead to being her home. A small little flat above an Italian restaurant. The power struggle of the next twenty-four hours should have been what freed Alex from her worst nightmare. But as she stood angrily shouting at Gene Hunt, In her pink top and white leather, curly hair, and glittery eyeshadow, Gene Hunt made another declaration that felt more like a life sentence.

"Your presence is required just a little bit longer around here by me!"

And so the rhythm of her Purgatory life began. It was an odd sense of freedom that Alex had no longing for. Waking up in the morning there was no teenager to pull out of bed and ferry to and from school. Her mornings were quiet and went at whatever pace she desired. Her days were filled with work and evenings spent drinking with her colleges in a smoky corner with the most unexpected of allies. Trusting Gene Hunt still felt unnatural, but he ran this world she found herself in. He was in charge, meaning she had to take his instructions at least into consideration. Her first week was filled with mundane petty crimes that Alex felt wasted the brain energy she was holding onto. But she continued to remind herself that everything in this world had to be significant in some way. The smallest theft or vandalism could kickstart the journey that leads her home. So she surrounded herself with 1981. With solving crimes, arguing and battling with Gene Hunt, and drinking to force her mind into sleep. It wasn't until the week of the Royal Wedding the some Devine energy chose to turn up the volume of life. Bomb threats and protests guided Alex down the path of flirting with Daniel Moore (and almost being sueded by his charm). Her brain chose the perfect moment to introduce her mother into the story. Giving in to the ridiculous rituals of the men she worked with, Alex was bent over the desk as Gene Hunt stamped her rear-end with ink as Caroline Price strutted into enemy territory and put Alex firmly in her place. After a couple of drunken nights and a messy but successful investigation that Alex rested on Gene's table and felt the world around her starting too slow again. "I was absolutely convinced, Classic hero worshiper, father entry. Inadequate, angry, bright. I would have put money on him being the bomber."

"Nah, not in a million years," Gene argued gently as he placed a glass of scotch in Alex's hand. "As for Daddy Bonds, well he's a coward. All talk and no trousers. cheers." He clinked their glasses together playfully making Alex smile at him before his next sentence forced her to roll her eyes at him. "Never mind, your boyfriend's invited us to a little doo."

Alex had only finished the rest of her drink when Viv appeared in the office. He looked between Alex and Gene with a befuddled look on his face Alex was yet to see on the man. Even with the door open, he knocked gingerly on the glass and waited for a nod from his Chief Detective Inspector. "What is it, skip?"

"There's a problem at the desk, Guv." Even though Viv was talking to Gene, he kept glancing over at Alex with a worried look in his eyes. "There's a young girl refusing to leave."

"Hardly C.I.D is it skip? You telling me you can't handle a little girl."

"She says she's looking for D.I. Drake."

"For me?" Alex asked confused. Gene was looking at Alex now with his furrowed brow.

"Mum?" A small voice crept out from behind Viv. It seemed this little girl wasn't very good at following instructions that meant she had to stay where she was. Alex's heart stopped as the small girl stepped out from behind Viv. Despite the unusual colours and rainbow make-up, Molly's messy long hair stayed straight and the same as the day she was torn away from her mother. In a denim jacket for too big for her petite form, Molly's wide eyes began to tear up as she looked up at her mother. Or a woman who at least looked like her mother.

"Molly?"

Gene watched in silent astonishment as his D.I. leaped forward off of his desk and fell to her knees. Her arms wrapped around the teenage girl who squeezed her eyes shut and gripped onto her mother's embrace like her life depended on it.

Alex didn't follow the rest of C.I.D to the street party. For the second time, her worlds had been tipped upside down in ways she could never have imagined. Mother and daughter were yet to share each other's stories about how they ended up in the world of 1981. All they did was grip hands tightly as Alex guided her daughter over the road and towards her electric coloured apartment. The two perched on the sofa, both with their knees pulled up around their chests with their own drink in hand. A warm tea for Molly, a large glass of wine for Mum.

"Molls," Alex sighed as she looked at her scared daughter forcing on a smile, "you have to tell me what happened." Molly bit her lip and furrowed her brow in the way she did when she had a secret. Alex put her glass back down on the table and gathered her daughter in her arms, still in shock that she could feel her touch back. "How about I go first?" She asked in a whisper. She felt her daughter nod her head against her chest. "Okay," she sighed. "I remember you and me, being trapped with Leighton and him… him shooting me. When I opened my eyes I was here. In 1981. Still a police officer and the new D.I. of Gene Hunt and his team."

"The guy Sam Tyler told you about?" Molly's eye lifted up, shining with intrigue, showing signs that her sparky daughter wasn't completely lost by the strangeness of this world. "But he's not real!"

"That's what I thought." Alex laughed I'm disbelief. "I've been trying to get back to you Mols. Trying to find the trigger of this world to wake up. I'm sorry I should have tried harder." Alex felt the tears threatening to smudge her eyeshadow so she burried her face in her daughter's hair.

"Mum," Molly murmured. "You couldn't have woken up." Molly pulled away from her mother, ready to finally tell her side of this mysterious tale. Alex allowed her daughter to shift to the other side of the sofa. Molly needed the distance to find the way to physically tell her mother the horrible truth. Her hands played with the fabric of her leggings as she closed her eyes and relived the day she thought she'd lost her mother. "That man, Leighton. After he … shot you. He started panicking, getting angry and shouting! He left me locked up on that boat he took us to, made me stay with your…" Molly's ears were streaming with tears now, unable to hold them back. When she looked up and met her mother's eyes it all came out. "Mum you stopped breathing! It had been hours and you went cold! You died." Alex felt the blow to her stomach and instantly wanted to be sick. If Molly hadn't have been sitting in front of her, crying and waiting for her mother to rescue her, she probably would have. The thought of Molly sitting on that damp and dark boat, beside her mother's dead body and wondering when it would be her turn took away any concern Alex had for herself. She leaped forward like she had earlier that day, cradling her daughter close to her in comfort.

"What happened next sweetheart?" Alex had already guessed what had happened. If she had died and landed in this world, then there was only one explanation for Molly's appearance as well.

"He came back the next night. He looked, far away. His eyes were looking at me but they weren't. He didn't say anything he just lifted the gun and…" Molly erupted into whales of tears, panicked streams of liquid falling from her eyes and seeping into her mother's shirt. Alex couldn't find the words to console her daughter, she was still trying to console herself. Molly and Alex, both dead. And in this very strange dystopia.

.

.

Alex placed a very tired Molly in one of her large and wrapped her in her bed duvet. Molly was so exhausted she had run out of energy to cry or even ask questions. Alex switched off the light of her bedroom but kept the door open ajar, so she could hear her daughter if she needed her. Pouring herself a large glass of wine, a knock at the door took Alex by surprise. Jumping and spilling her drink she swore silently to herself as she ran to the door, before whoever was knocking could knock again and wake her daughter up. Up until the moment she opened the door, she was angry. How dar anyone call by now! But when she saw Gene's face she found her stomach filled with nothing but relief, gratitude even. She smiled at his award face and stepped to the side and allowed him in.

Gene hovered oddly on his feet as Alex poured him a large scotch and placed it in his hand. He followed her lead as she sat down on the sofa. He tried to look discreet as his eyes darted all over the apartment, looking for the newest arrival.

"She's asleep in the bedroom." Alex said quietly as Gene finally took his seat beside her. Gene nodded with his customary pout as he sipped his drink. Desperately searching for the words to say. He looked over at Alex, leaning back in her seat with tired eyes that had clearly been crying. She looked at him through the sleep trying to claim her. With their eyes they had the unspoken conversation of how to approach this. Alex smiled soft at Gene's confused face, giving him permission to finally approach the subject.

"What happened, Alex? You always said she was… far away?" Alex scrambled in her mind, trying to find a way to tell Gene the truth without in fact telling him the truth. It felt wrong lying to Gene, but how could he believe the truth of the matter. She closed her eyes and sighed heavily.

"There was a hostage situation in town. I was taking Molls to school but the hostage-taker asked for me by name. I told her to stay in the car. If only she'd stayed in the bloody car." Alex groaned to herself, leaning forward and resting her head in her hands. "Leigh… the gunman had his gun on me and she ran out from the crowd and right into his path. She just wanted to get to me. But he got to her. Carried her away. I followed after him but he knocked me unconscious. I woke up and me and Molls were in this, dark dingy boat barely floating. I tried to talk him down but… he shot me." Gene's eyes flared up in shock at the news that his D.I. had been caught in the line of fire. "I woke up and…" now was the time she had to bend the truth. And she hated it. "I woke up and I didn't know where she was. There was no way for me to get to her. No one in this world could get to her."

As Alex kept her eyes closed and told him the tale of the worst day of his life, he felt any hard exterior he had melted away and before he knew what he was doing, his arms were wrapped around Alex as she cried into his chest. Gene chose not to ask any further questions. How Molly escaped and found her way back to her mother. He wasn't sure Alex even knew the answer herself. He just held her close and stroked circled against her back.

"It's okay, she's back. She's safe." He repeated over and over again as Alex cried into his shirt.

"Mum?" Gene and Alex both looked up in shock over towards the bedroom door. In one of her mother's , swarming her small body, Molly Drake looked at the pair of adults in a confused sleep. Gene felt Alex's body switch like a gear in a car. She went from the sobbing pained woman in his arms into a mother in less than a second. She straightened her back and wiped her eyes, stopping the streams of tears right away.

"Molls, you okay sweetheart?"

"You were crying." Molly pointed out, looking over to Gene suspiciously. "Who's…"

"Oh. It's okay Molls. Alex reassured Molly. Suddenly noticing the fact Gene's arms were still around her body. Gene suddenly found himself lost for words and unsure how to control his limbs. He let them fall dead against his sides as Alex smiled fondly at him and stood up over to her daughter. "This is Gene, he's a friend."

"Gene Hunt?" Molly asked, suddenly more animated than before. Her eyes were wide as she looked over at the man on her mother's sofa. Alex had her hands resting on his daughter's shoulders but kept her mouth shut. Waiting for Gene to introduce himself. When she laughed gently, Gene was pulled out of his trance and finally stood up to his full height.

"er… yeah. DCI Gene Hunt." Gene nodded, finally back in action.

"Taylor sad you were shorted." Alex snorted in laughter at Gene's confused face.

"Tyler." Alex corrected her daughter. Gene rolled his eyes as the sense of confusion that began in 1973 began to feel familiar.

"Yeah well I'm…"

"Gene!" Alex interrupted before he could repeat the same sentence he'd told her when she arrived.

"Yeah well… Tyler had a tendency to talk bollocks." Alex rolled her eyes as her daughter giggled at the strange man swearing in front of her.

"Let's get you back to bed Molls." Alex smiled, turning her daughter around gently pushing her back into her bedroom.

"Night." Molly stifled her yawn as she waved over at Gene before she disappeared behind the doorframe. Alex smiled and looked back over at Gene still hovering awkwardly on his feet.

"I should er…"

"Yeah, yeah off course. I'll see you tomorrow, Bolls." Gene nodded, rushing towards the door for his escape.

"Gene," Alex called after him gently as he swung the door open. He looked back at her, eyes begging for release. She smiled sweetly. "thank you, for checking up on me."

"No problem, Bolly. It'll be fine." He said, voice filled with sincerity before leaving Alex's flat for the rest of the night.

.

.

Alex finally scrubbed her face off the day's makeup and tears and got into her pajamas. Turning off the light and snuggling up to her daughter in her bed, she felt Molly shovel closer towards her.

"he doesn't seem so bad," Molly mumbled sleepily. Alex smirked as she wrapped her arms around her daughter.

"He has his moments."

Author's Notes: When I started writing this I planned for Alex to get shot and then Molly to get shot immediately after. But I didn't want to change the first episode of Ashes too much. It always seemed perfect to me and I couldn't really think of a way to introduce Molly into that story line naturally. So I hope you guys like my approach and take on this prompt. Remember to leave reviews and suggestions for future chapters! I'm thinking the next chapter needs to be a bit on the lighter side, or as light as A2A can get. I think we need more Gene/Alex romance time? Tell me what you think. And as always, sending love and health - herstoryboooks.